Monty vs Herbert

[adam]

Monty has one more year on his rookie deal and has been very solid for the Bears over the last two years. I can't wait to get him back in the lineup where the Bears will have a real 1-2 punch in Monty and Herbert. 

Thru last week, with Monty missing a few games, their stats are very similar but they are completely different runners:

Monty 69-309, 4.5 Y/A, 6-49. 
Herbert 58-279, 4.8 Y/A, 7-48. 

If Herbert keeps this up, and looks legit in a small sample size, the Bears will have to decide if they want to extend Monty, which seemed like a no-brainer just a few weeks ago. Now, I don't know. If Herbert is running this good and you can bring in a true fullback, it might be more cost-effective to let Monty walk as not many 2nd RB contracts have been working out lately. 

If you want to keep Monty, what do you believe would be a fair contract for both sides? McCaffrey leads with $16M APY. The bottom end of the 2nd contract guys is around $12M with Aaron Jones. The 2nd Tier is a guy like Melvin Gordon that got $8M APY who comps very similar to Montgomery at the same age.  RB seems risky due to injury outside of a guy like Henry.

Thoughts?

[Alaskan Grizzly]

45 minutes ago, adam said:
Thoughts?

Not sure about dumping money on Montgomery mostly due to his running style and now having a leg injury on his resume. That smash mouth style of playing AND not wanting to give up on the play adds up to significant wear and tear and quickly…that is unless you’re Henry.  
 

On the other hand, Herbert shows what a running back can do when zone blocking is done correctly and you have an RB that has the quickness and vision.  
 

I suspect Nagy will be moving on so I really wouldn’t be able l say without knowing who the new coach will be.  Are they zone run or more traditional? Do they do a lot of Play action or RPO?  I think either (Montgomery or Herbert) would succeed but suspect Monty would run down quicker. 
 

For what it’s worth whomever is scouting RBs needs to stay on the team. 

[Mongo3451]

I would definitely extend Monty at a team friendly price.  RB's are the most disposable position, so you can't pay him big coin.  If we happen to lose him in FA, we'll gladly collect a good comp pick.  In the meantime, draft another Herbert next year to keep the pipeline full.

[AZ54]

6 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

I would definitely extend Monty at a team friendly price.  RB's are the most disposable position, so you can't pay him big coin.  If we happen to lose him in FA, we'll gladly collect a good comp pick.  In the meantime, draft another Herbert next year to keep the pipeline full.

I'm all in on extending Montgomery and keeping a solid 2-man RB rotation for the next 3 years while Fields is settling in.  We're going to unload Dalton and Foles so with Fields on his rookie deal use the spare QB budget to fit in Montgomery.  As mentioned, this is also a position with high injury rates so having a good backup is critical for Fields.  Plus both of these RBs have proven they can be successful running behind a less-than-ideal Oline too.   In the future if Fields blossoms sooner than later, or meets the highest expectations, and we need cap space or a trade to shore up another position we can look at moving Montgomery if he has enough value.  

Add in the fact that we have Mooney and the "question marks" at WR and maintaining a good running game for the next two seasons is mandatory IMO.  

[killakrzydav]

Montgomery is overrated. Trade him asap

[adam]

13 hours ago, killakrzydav said:

Montgomery is overrated. Trade him asap

I wouldn't say that, but he lacks short area quickness. He has some nice jukes and has great body control, but he just doesn't have the same vision as Herbert or that speed to the hole. They actually compliment each other well. If they don't trade him, I wouldn't mind resigning him, but it can't be for top 10 RB money. 

[killakrzydav]

He's not a top ten back. No fan of any team is taking Monty in the first ten rbs off the board other than a bears fan. He's a replacement level RB that should be replaced after his first contact.

[killakrzydav]

That koolaid is real.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

37 minutes ago, killakrzydav said:

He's not a top ten back. No fan of any team is taking Monty in the first ten rbs off the board other than a bears fan. He's a replacement level RB that should be replaced after his first contact.

He was in the 10-15 range at the start of the season.  Montgomery is a workhorse, nothing spectacular other than his high YAC.  

[adam]

Monty back at practice, has a chance to play on Monday. Monty+Herbert would be pretty formidable 1-2 punch.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Monty back at practice, has a chance to play on Monday. Monty+Herbert would be pretty formidable 1-2 punch.

...BUT at the same time Monty returns, so does Nagy.  

https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-report/as-matt-nagy-returns-to-halas-hall-david-montgomery-returns-to-practice/

 

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

...BUT at the same time Monty returns, so does Nagy.  

https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-report/as-matt-nagy-returns-to-halas-hall-david-montgomery-returns-to-practice/

 

Do you think he was praying for a cluster f@&k while he was gone? ?????

[AZ54]

13 hours ago, adam said:

Monty back at practice, has a chance to play on Monday. Monty+Herbert would be pretty formidable 1-2 punch.

I'm amazed how quickly he recovered from that injury.  I wonder if they'll give him a week of practice before getting him into contact but seeing him back at full speed alongside Herbert is going to give teams headaches.    This comes at a time when Fields is beginning to get comfortable in the offense and they are now moving him around too.   

[adam]

17 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

I'm amazed how quickly he recovered from that injury.  I wonder if they'll give him a week of practice before getting him into contact but seeing him back at full speed alongside Herbert is going to give teams headaches.    This comes at a time when Fields is beginning to get comfortable in the offense and they are now moving him around too.   

With the way Fields has been running lately, you add that to a healthy Monty and Herbert in the backfield at the same time with some misdirection. That is going to cause some havoc. Look at what Baltimore does with Jackson. 

[AZ54]

2 minutes ago, adam said:

With the way Fields has been running lately, you add that to a healthy Monty and Herbert in the backfield at the same time with some misdirection. That is going to cause some havoc. Look at what Baltimore does with Jackson. 

I'm smiling just thinking about it.   

[BearFan2000]

6 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I'm amazed how quickly he recovered from that injury.  I wonder if they'll give him a week of practice before getting him into contact but seeing him back at full speed alongside Herbert is going to give teams headaches.    This comes at a time when Fields is beginning to get comfortable in the offense and they are now moving him around too.   

I'm hoping they do give him the extra week hold his return till after the bye.  Herbert has shown he can hold down the fort in Monty's stead, no sense in risking brining him back early if you can afford to wait.  I do look forward to the 1-2 punch, they can both be explosive in different ways.  Herbert can be the lightning to Monty's thunder.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

2 hours ago, BearFan2000 said:

I'm hoping they do give him the extra week hold his return till after the bye.  Herbert has shown he can hold down the fort in Monty's stead, no sense in risking brining him back early if you can afford to wait.  I do look forward to the 1-2 punch, they can both be explosive in different ways.  Herbert can be the lightning to Monty's thunder.

Agreed. Don’t know that Monty’s return (if it were this weekend) would be enough to swing in the teams favor.  And with Herbert running like he is (and Fields short field play improving) he certainly can afford to rest up.  No need to risk further injury by coming back too soon. 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

On 11/4/2021 at 6:02 PM, Alaskan Grizzly said:

...BUT at the same time Monty returns, so does Nagy.  

https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-report/as-matt-nagy-returns-to-halas-hall-david-montgomery-returns-to-practice/

 

I am hoping the week away maybe helped Nagy get some much needed perspective. Wishful thinking I know…either way end of the season go get Dabol. 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

17 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I'm amazed how quickly he recovered from that injury.  I wonder if they'll give him a week of practice before getting him into contact but seeing him back at full speed alongside Herbert is going to give teams headaches.    This comes at a time when Fields is beginning to get comfortable in the offense and they are now moving him around too.   

Yeah this is nice. I am worried for Steelers game…after that I think we are going to start seeing more consistent growth from Fields. 

[Stinger226]

Anytime you have good players, you try to keep them. DM is a very good RB, offer a team friendly deal next year . Having two good RBs is a good thing to go along with Fields. IF the rookie OTs work out, the offense has a bright future.(minus Nagy) Jenkins-Whitehair-?-Daniels-Borom. I could see the scenario where Daniels goes back to center, and fit a RG in instead of Mustifer. He has looked bad on some plays, but not sure how he overall grades out. Anyone know? Add Kmet, Mooney and you have the makings of (minus Nagy) a good offense but the defense will decline. The trend in the NFL. Good Os and bad Ds.

[adam]

7 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Anytime you have good players, you try to keep them. DM is a very good RB, offer a team friendly deal next year . Having two good RBs is a good thing to go along with Fields. IF the rookie OTs work out, the offense has a bright future.(minus Nagy) Jenkins-Whitehair-?-Daniels-Borom. I could see the scenario where Daniels goes back to center, and fit a RG in instead of Mustifer. He has looked bad on some plays, but not sure how he overall grades out. Anyone know? Add Kmet, Mooney and you have the makings of (minus Nagy) a good offense but the defense will decline. The trend in the NFL. Good Os and bad Ds.

The team has to shore up the OL and get a real WR1. I would bring back Jesse James as TE2 and the TE room will be good enough. After that, if they can upgrade on the OLine, get Jenkins and Borom to lock down the bookends, then add a true WR1 to Mooney, Kmet, Montgomery, Herbert and obviously Fields, that is a pretty solid offense. I would love for the Bears to draft Olave to reunite with Fields. They have such a connection, it would look like Burrow to Chase.

On defense, guys with big contracts or looking to get paid are underproducing. Goldman sat out a year and now looks like this? He is a ghost. They are going to have to address DL with a least one stud, then upgrade at Safety and CB2/3. 

In regards to grades, Daniels is a 65.9, Whitehair is a 64.7 (above average) and Mustipher is a 48.7 (belove average), Borom is grading out at 55.3 (average) and Peters is 78.3 (All-Pro level). Ifedi was a 60.3 before getting hurt. So the weak link is the Center, which makes the Guards worse.